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I look over my shoulder at my parents, the twins, Tomas, finding them all shocked and confused. I grit my teeth and release a flustered breath. Just when I started trying…

It’s all over, but I suppose I need to retrieve my brother. I soar after him and catch up quickly.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he roars.

“It’s not me!”

“No one else can control the air!” A tree grows to catch him, but he sweeps past it. A hill rises to meet him, but he floats higher still. This is not the time for the air to take on a mind of its own.

“Stop this!” I shout. “This isn’t accomplishing anything!”

“Who are you speaking to?”

“The air!” We’re carried past the trees and to the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. “I don’t know why it’s dragging you out to—”

A fleet of Penuman ships.

Rylan and I land and gape at the amassment of vessels blanketing the coast.

Fear spreads through me like a crack in glass, obscuring the once-clear picture I had of the world. A whisper sneaks through my trembling lips. “I didn’t think Penum had a fleet.”

Whatever I thought doesn’t matter, though. Dark sails hang limp from the masts. The wind has died, and a warm breeze slinks around me like an embrace. You’ve done that. The air stopped them and brought us here to see.

A boulder rises behind us, Rylan’s hand matching the movement and clenching, ready to throw.

“What are you doing?” A downward draft pushes against the boulder, and it wobbles but remains levitated.

“They are in our territory unannounced, approaching our coastline with enough ships to do battle.”

“Perhaps they need our assistance.”

He wheels on me with wide eyes. “Why would they come here? They hate us.”

“They can’t mean to fight us—it would be suicide. Any one of us could lay waste to that fleet in a moment.”

“Suicide indeed.” The boulder trembles as Ry tenses in preparation to heave it.

“Rylan, if you sink their ships, you are starting a war, not them. We must speak with them first. And alert Mother and Father.”

His expression darkens. “A sovereign needs to be capable of making decisions.”

“Rash, uninformed decisions? I don’t recall that lesson.”

“I’m not running back to Mother for help.” The earth rumbles.

“Neither of us have to go anywhere.” I pull the dagger Tomas gave me from its sheath. I can’t leave, but I need to tell them. This is more dramatic than I’d prefer the message to look, but without ink or parchment… I wince as I slice my fingertip, and blood drips from the wound.

Waves crash against a barrier of rock newly erected from under the sea.

I press my bleeding finger to the side of the blade. The crimson ink looks ghastly, but “shore” is legible, so I wipe my finger on my tunic and squeeze my thumb against the cut. Hot air blasts to dry the message, and I throw it. You’re good at finding Tomas, I silently tell the air.

The wall of rock rises higher still.

“I’m going to find out what they want,” I say.

“Ara, you can’t go by yourself.”

“So come with me.” Ry’s eyes dart between me and the ships. “I’ll keep us shielded the entire time.”